President Biden and Donald Trump have agreed to crowdless general election debates. Politico reports that an anonymous source from Biden’s campaign indicated this format could be advantageous for the President.
The Potential Crowd-less Debate Advantages for Biden
As previously reported by The Shade Room, the politicians have agreed to two debates — one in June and another in September.
A Biden advisor reportedly told the outlet, “Trump feeds off the crowd, they give him life.” The commander-in-chief’s team aimed to “take that away.” David Axelrod, a former aide to Barack Obama, stated that audiences are “a big part of how [Trump] energizes himself.” He believes that if Trump “can’t play to the crowd,” it will have some impact on him.
Additionally, the 81-year-old President’s advisors were concerned that audience noise levels might affect Biden during the debate, as he reportedly has trouble hearing in loud settings. Biden’s camp also wants to avoid heated arguments among the candidates. They aim for a smoothly-running debate, avoiding shouting matches. If candidates speak out of turn, their microphones can be turned off.
Axelrod believes the Biden campaign “won negotiations on three points: It’s a debate without a crowd. It’s a debate without any third-party candidates. And it’s an early debate.”
He contends that it is an ideal situation for Biden.
Social Media Reacts to the Crowdless Debate
The Roomies under The Shade Room’s report had mixed feelings about the newly agreed-upon rules.
- “The silence is gonna be LOUD! Gonna feel like an episode of The Office.”
- “I really like this format. When it’s all about trying to get an applause, we lose out on quality. This debate is just these two men and a moderator discussing serious policy matters,”
- “one can’t speak and the other has middle school jokes.”
- “The fact that this man is on trial and running for presidency at the same time is crazy,”
- “Now you get to hear what policies and what they both have to actually say… without all the noise and chaos…. Definitely here for that… let’s see what they have to say to the American people. What they actually plan to do for the country!!!”
